Hot and hotter.

Sweltering. Beyond baking. We're into broiling. We did have a little rain shower the other day.... it rained off and on for a few hours, then quickly went back to broiling/sweltering as soon as the sun came out. Makes me wonder just how much benefit the grass and plants got from the rain before the sun and the heat started to evaporate the wetness.

Gatsby has been spending all of his days inside the house, only going outside after dinner-time. He will come back in the house around 9:00 for another half-dish of cat food, then out he goes and that's where he wants to be till the morning. Mickey and Sweet Pea get to look out of the screen door for a couple of hours in the early morning, but as soon as I can feel the heat coming in through the screen, I close the doors and they have to be content with looking out of the windows. I'm still standing firm on not letting those two outside anymore. They seem to be okay with that, for the most part, and don't really meow by the door these days. Maybe they realize how hot it is out there. And let's not even remind anyone (especially me) of the snake issues.

The stray cat from last week never came back, and I'm just as glad. I hope it went back to its own home, or someone else found it and has taken it as their own. I don't need (or want) another cat, and I would have felt badly about taking that cat to the shelter. Two inside cats and one mostly-outside cat is more than enough. I have also gotten over the puppy-thing since we saw that cute little Peekapoo at the July 4th parade. Puppies are always so darn cute.... their cuteness makes you forget all the puppy training you have to go through. I'm not ready for that, and I may never be.

The chickens are hiding in the shade underneath the bushes for most of these hot hot hot days. They come out around lunch-time, looking for table scraps from the big salads I usually make for lunch. The hens love the tomato seeds and the bits of lettuce and carrots. Actually, those hens will eat just about anything at all, except mushrooms.

The barn swallows are still either flying around the porch columns or sitting in nests or feeding baby birds. Three nests on the porch are now on their second set of baby birds. Two adult barn swallows took over the nest over the kitchen windows without even making adjustments to the nest that was already there. Usually, when these birds use a pre-built nest, they will add extra bits of mud and grass and give it their own personal birdie-touch. Not so with the latest two..... they just flew into that nest a few days after the first set of baby birds flew out. And just the other day, I saw the teeny heads peeking out of the nest, with even teenier bits of feathers on their mostly-bald heads. Too cute.

My pile of books-to-read has been dwindling down nicely during all of these hot days. I finish one book and start another. "Water For Elephants" was great, and I sped through that book last week..... not because I like to read that fast, but the story was just so very good that I couldn't stop reading. I know they made a movie of that book, but the author's words are always better than anything that Hollywood can put onto a roll of film.

A new house is being built further up the hill. We can see it off in the distance beyond the field behind our barn. Looks like a very nice house, and it doesn't bother me a bit because it's so far away, but it surely is bothering the people who own the house at the very end of the road. With that new house being built so close to the road, the old neighbors will be able to hear the new neighbors if they're all in their yards at the same time. The old neighbors, who have lived in this area for more than thirty years, were used to having that stretch of the hill all to themselves. And now.... surprise.... a new house goes up on the property next to the old neighbors' property. To make matters worse, the new neighbors' house is more than twice the size of the 'old' neighbors' house.... so his house now looks like a guest cottage for the bigger, newer house. Should be interesting when the new neighbors move into their new home.... the old neighbors aren't too happy now, and I'm sure they're not going to be calling out Howdy, neighbor! when the moving truck comes along.

Another day on the ranch......